7 July 2017The Human Mouth is the most unclean or one of the most bacteria-filled parts of the body, other than the obvious. We’ll let you come to your own conclusions about that. Because bacteria are living organisms, the human mouth has a fully functioning ecosystem, meaning your mouth is someone else’s home. The mouths ecosystem has hundreds of different species of bacteria, which make up hundreds of thousands of bacteria living in your mouth.
Bacteria are organisms just like humans and ‘they’ eat, multiply (reproduce) digest and more. Did you know that these different types of bacteria do all of this while living in your mouth? Oral bacteria also live off of the food that you eat, especially sugars and starchy carbohydrates. I know! How nice of you to share.
The important thing to know is that not all bacteria found in your mouth is harmful or bad. There are both good bacteria and bad bacteria, which can help, hinder and affect your health and that goes beyond your oral health too.
Some studies have actually linked bad bacteria in the mouth to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Do you know about the link between gum disease and diabetes?
Having too much bad bacteria in our body including the mouth can cause problems to our oral health and therefore our overall health. Here's how bacteria can...
Affect Our Teeth
When bacteria feed on foods and sugars in our mouths they create acids. Even though your teeth are the strongest part of your body, these acids can erode tooth enamel, which is the hard outer layer that protects each tooth. This causes cavities* or holes which decay teeth. Tooth decay can be treated by *root canal treatment, although if this is not successful the tooth may need to be extracted.
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Affect Our Gums
An accumulation of bad bacteria can make the gums irritated and inflamed, this is called ‘gingivitis’. If this is not treated this can develop into ‘periodontitis’ which is *gum disease* Gum disease can cause receding gums, tooth loss and in a severe case bone loss.
Cause Oral diseases and more
Poor oral health which is caused by a buildup of bad bacteria can cause oral diseases, infections as well as have adverse effects on your overall health.
All the bacteria in our mouths are not all bad; some are good like probiotic bacteria, which can help fight or balance bad bacteria. Some bacteria found in the mouth are also completely benign – meaning ‘they’ are completely neutral, not affecting us in any way.
Oral hygiene. Looking after our oral health is very important to our health. Here are some of the things that you can do to maintain good oral hygiene and fight against bad bacteria:
Brush Your Teeth
You should be brushing your teeth at least twice a day, this prevents a build-up of bad bacteria in the mouth. Best practice is brushing between meals.
Flossing
Did you know that if you don’t floss your teeth your actually only brushing around 60% of each tooth? And that’s if you’re brushing properly (for at least 2 minutes). Ideally, you should be flossing at least once a day.
Mouthwash
This one is optional, but there are many benefits in adding it to your oral health regime. It helps keep teeth clean and antibacterial mouthwash helps fight bad bacteria.
Balanced Diet
This one is good for your general health as well as your oral health. Not only will eating a healthy balanced diet help you maintain a strong immune system to fight bacteria and infection. Eating no more than the recommended daily allowance of sugar will help maintain your oral health “Eating sweets will rot your teeth” is not an old wives tale!
Regular Dental Health Checkups
Seeing your dentist every 6 months is important, they can help you maintain as well as look after your oral health. They can also book you hygienist appointments if you need a professional clean.
Did you know pregnant women are given free oral health treatment on the NHS, you can read more about this here?
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